Niki Caro/USA/2005; R4
Warner Bros, NZ$29.95 | Reviewed by Jenny Macintyre

North Country is based on a true story. It is every woman’s nightmare.

Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron) takes a case of sexual harassment against her employer, a giant Minnesota Iron Mining company. Sexual harassment is so endemic in the culture of the mine that Josey’s father Hank (Richard Jenkins) says she brings shame on the family by going to work, asking if she wants to become a lesbian.

North Country opens with Josey gathering her children together and leaving a violent marriage. Her father tries to make sense of the violence by asking if her husband found her with another man. Josey cannot believe his question. She is on trial throughout the film, her sexual history constantly under scrutiny. While some issues remain different, the story is not unlike that of the Louise Nicholas case with the challenge and questions that it brought to our justice system.

The acting line up is stellar and their performances compelling. Sissy Spacek, Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sean Bean contribute to an emotionally explosive story that had goosebumps running up my legs at the critical moment – a Niki Caro dynamic we are familiar with in Whale Rider.

But North Country is not a work of fiction. The script was adapted from the book Case Action, the true story of women who changed the sexual harassment policy in the mine and won the right to work there with self-respect and protection from abuse – a decision that has had international significance. With this as its background, North Country plays more like a documentary than a slab of entertainment. The acting is brilliant but the script is so burdened with message that there is no light relief.

North Country has been compared to Erin Brokovich. Both women took Class A action, fighting against all odds, and won. But Erin possessed light relief, drawing emotional involvement in viewers. North Country tells an equally important story, but is woven with abuse in almost every scene, that I found myself again reminded of Louise Nicholas as I watched another woman's sexual history dragged through a justice system that simply further maimed and traumatised an unfortunate victim. In spite of this, if the intention of the film is to educate and appal, then it does so brilliantly.

David Coulson’s editing is a delight. He holds the viewers interest in active curiosity throughout the film. Caro’s direction is faultless; every performance is sound and well grounded. Charlize Theron’s capacity to portray the full spectrum of human experience through her character is similarly outstanding.


THE DVD includes "Stories from North Country": the real women and the real lives that challenged American sexual harassment legislation in a trial that progressed throughout a period of fourteen years. This is compelling viewing in meeting the women whose lives have made a difference and experiencing the inspiration of making a film that will make a difference. For Theron, it was a shift from acting to experiencing, and for Caro filming a story to recording live dynamic action. Caro says the best this film can do is start people talking, listening and asking questions.